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Demonstration model of a direct methanol fuel cell (black layered cube) in its enclosure Scheme of a proton-conducting fuel cell. A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel (often hydrogen) and an oxidizing agent (often oxygen) [1] into electricity through a pair of redox reactions. [2]
The charge is carried by the hydrogen ion . The liquid ethanol (C 2 H 5 OH) is oxidized at the anode in the presence of water, generating CO 2, hydrogen ions and electrons. Hydrogen ions travel through the electrolyte. They react at the cathode with oxygen from the air and the electrons from the external circuit forming water.
Another recent development is the solid-state alkaline fuel cell, utilizing a solid anion-exchange membrane instead of a liquid electrolyte. This resolves the problem of poisoning and allows the development of alkaline fuel cells capable of running on safer hydrogen-rich carriers such as liquid urea solutions or metal amine complexes.
A solid oxide electrolyser cell (SOEC) is a solid oxide fuel cell set in regenerative mode for the electrolysis of water with a solid oxide, or ceramic, electrolyte to produce oxygen and hydrogen gas. [53] SOECs can also be used to do electrolysis of CO 2 to produce CO and oxygen [54] or even co-electrolysis of water and CO 2 to produce syngas ...
The hydrogen gas then diffuses back up through the cathode and is collected at its surface as hydrogen fuel, while the oxygen ions are conducted through the dense electrolyte. The electrolyte must be dense enough that the steam and hydrogen gas cannot diffuse through and lead to the recombination of the H 2 and O 2−. At the electrolyte-anode ...
In addition, the storage of formic acid is easier and safer than that of pure hydrogen, and FA does not need to be kept at high pressures and/or low temperatures. Similar to methanol , FA is a small organic molecule fed directly into the fuel cell, which removes the need for complicated catalytic reforming .
Hydrogen with low purity can be used as fuel. Hydrogen with low purity is cheaper than high purity hydrogen which has to be usually used for LT-PEM fuel cell. The use of fuels like methanol makes cheaper fuel costs per kWh possible compared with hydrogen (e.g. LT-PEM fuel cells) or diesel (e.g. gensets) as fuel.
The fuel cartridge stores the methanol fuel. Depending on the system design either 100% methanol (IMPCA industrial standard) or a mixture of methanol with up to 40 vol% water is usually used as fuel for the RMFC system. 100% methanol results in lower fuel consumption than water-methanol mixture (Premix) but goes along with higher fuel cell system complexity for condensing of cathode moisture.